There is nothing like starting a blog dedicated to food writing to make all one’s cooking passion dry up. The world has been very much with me for the past several weeks – homeschooling, family members’ health problems, new puppy training, adolescent training, and more eat up the minutes I might spend thinking up scrumptious dishes to cook and clever things to write about life in the kitchen. I’m still making food, of course, and most of it is worth eating, but I am neither excited nor feeling terribly creative. I know I will find my groove again soon, but for now my cooking style is more auto than test pilot.
Last night I did throw together a dish I have been wanting to try for some time, Crème Brulee French Toast, which is a recipe rated at four forks by about 8 million people on the Epicurious.com web site. It is an overnight French toast with its own syrup and is described with terms like “heavenly” and “amazing” and the much overused “to die for.” It is certainly easy enough to assemble: brown sugar, butter, and a touch of corn syrup are melted together and poured into a baking dish for the syrup component. Slices of French bread are arranged on top, and a thick egg/half and half custard is poured over all, to slowly soak into the bread during its hours in the fridge. In the morning, even the most bleary-eyed can manage to stick it in the oven and dish it up for a no-last-minute-effort hot breakfast. The result? The consensus here was a resounding “Eh.” “It’s not bad,” “It’s ok,” and, by more than one person, “It’s kind of egg-y.”
Kind of egg-y, indeed. In true Frugal Cook fashion, I utilized some very stale French bread for this recipe. It may have been so stale as to be beyond redemption, or at least beyond the ability to soak up all of the custard as I expected it would. The finished dish, which you could see if my camera would ever return from the repair shop, resembled rounds of bread suspended in a rectangular frittata. The flavor and texture would be right on for someone who likes sweet omelets, as Julia Child apparently did, but that is one inclination I do not share with her. I suspect this recipe is better than my effort indicates, due to the dry bread issue, so it probably deserves another chance. I doubt it will get one from me, though, because I can’t imagine it turning out better than French toast made the regular way, with lashings of butter and maple syrup poured on just before it is consumed. However, there is no denying its convenience, which may reveal that the Epicurious readers who call it “to die for” don’t wish “to work for” really superior French toast.
Will you like it? You won’t know if you don’t try it, and remember, the vote in its favor is 8 million to four so far.
Kind of Egg-y Crème Brulee French Toast
adapted from http://www.epicurious.com/
serves 6
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 supermarket French baguette, sliced into 1” thick slices
5 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon Grand Marnier (I used Amaretto, because that’s what I had on hand, but I couldn’t taste it at all in the finished product.)
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a small heavy saucepan melt butter with brown sugar and corn syrup over moderate heat, stirring until smooth, and pour into a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking dish. Arrange bread slices in one layer in baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit.
In a bowl whisk together eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, liqueur, and salt until combined well and pour evenly over bread. Chill bread mixture, covered, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.
Preheat oven to 350° F. and bring bread to room temperature.
Bake bread mixture, uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed and edges are pale golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve hot French toast immediately.
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